The role of computers and of computer-aided design tools for the creation of geometrical shapes that will be judged primarily by aesthetic considerations is reviewed. Examples are the procedural generation of abstract geometrical sculpture or the shape optimization of constrained curves and surfaces with some global “cost” functional. Different possibilities for such “beauty functionals” are di...

Engineering design and geographic analysis are extremely important to the organizations that employ CAD and GIS. These distinctive technologies deliver mission critical answers and excel at discipline specific-tasks that the other performs poorly or not at all. However, there is increasing demand for CAD and GIS software that is well integrated. Integration helps professionals throughout a proj...

Collaborative AEC technologies centering around component-based CAD models support architectural and structural perspectives. The construction perspective is often neglected because an important dimension for construction—time—is missing. Construction planners are forced to abstract CAD model building components into schedule models representing time. 4D-CAD (3D-CAD + time) removes this abstrac...

Due to advent of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), mainly due to rapid advances in integration technologies the electronics industry has achieved a phenomenal growth over the last two decades. Various applications of VLSI circuits in high-performance computing, telecommunications, and consumer electronics has been expanding progressively, and at a very hasty pace. Steady advances in semi-con...

Usability in virtual reality based design tools (VRAD) is a major issue since its interaction techniques are not yet fully investigated. Human factors such as pointing precision, fatigue, hand vibrations, lack of limb support, and interaction anisotropy should be taken into account for a more effective interface as compared to the 2D. This work presents an ongoing study addressing human perform...